Grade 8 Science
Core Lab Activity 8 -2B pg. 316-9
“Determining Density”
Name: __________________________________
Purpose: How can measurements of mass and volume be used to determine the density of a substance?
Materials:
Ruler
Various solid substances of the same volume
Digital scales
Hypothesis: You can determine the density of a substance once you know the mass and volume of that substance.
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Procedure: Using a ruler measure three side of one of the solid substances to calculate the volume of one
substance.
Weigh each solid substance using the digital scale.
Calculate the mass to volume ratio of each substance
Observations: _______________________________________________________________________ (12 marks)
Substance
Volume (cm3)
Mass (g)
Analysis:
1. Rank your substances from highest to lowest densities.
Density ( g/cm3)
(mass to volume ratio)
2. Draw a line graph for the substances with the volume along the x-axis and the mass along the y-axis. Use
different for each substance. Be sure to provide a legend. ( 10 marks)
Title: ________________________________________________________________________
3. Describe the lines on your graph. (5 marks)
4. What happens to the mass to volume ratio (density) as the mass of the substance increases? (4 marks)
5. How does the steepness of the line change as the density changes? ( 2 marks)
Conclusion: Was your hypothesis correct? In your conclusion, state what you have learned about density.
(5 marks)